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Hilary Clarke

Britain’s fractious politics are about to get even worse.
EU leaders in Brussels will Wednesday decide whether to give the UK more time to reach an agreement with them on Brexit, beyond the current leave date on Friday, April 12.
Britain’s EU departure has already been postponed from March 29.
If as expected, they consent, it means the UK will still be “in” on May 23, meaning, under EU law, Britain will have to take part in the upcoming European Parliament elections.
If that happens, some Tory Brexiteers are threatening to behave like a wrecking ball in the EP, which has the powers to decide the EU budget and elect the new president of the European Commission, the all-powerful EU executive.
Britain on path to 2020 Brexit as EU rejects Theresa May’s bid for short delay
“This is the 21st century, and you cannot hold a nation captive against their will,” Conservative Brexiteer Mark Francois told the EU on Tuesday.
If the extension, and with it the EP elections, go ahead “you will be facing perfidious Albion on speed”, he said, with a term used in the past to describe the British Empire as treacherous or deceitful.
On Wednesday he invoked the Greek myth about the hollow wooden horse Odysseus used to sneak his men into Troy to capture it from within.
“We will become a Trojan Horse within the EU and utterly derail all their attempts to pursue a more federalist project,” he said.
Prime Minister Theresa May acknowledged that participation in the EU elections – at an estimated cost of £108 million (US$140 million) – was now on the cards when she formerly triggered the EP elections Monday, and put out a search for candidates.

Only last month she said it would be “unacceptable” to take part in the poll for the 73 UK seats for the 751-member body, almost three years after the vote to leave the EU.
May added the proviso the elections will be cancelled at short notice if she manages to obtain parliamentary approval for her withdrawal agreement with the EU.
“We remain completely committed to delivering on Brexit, with both sides working hard to agreeing a way forward, appreciating the urgency in order to avoid European elections,” she said.
Comedy of errors: meet the cast of Britain’s Brexit tragedy
But the prime minister has already tried three times to pass her deal through parliament and failed miserably.
Talks with the opposition Labour Party who want a softer Brexit have been going on for a week with no sign of a breakthrough.
Brexiteers desperate to break free from the rule of “unelected Brussels bureaucrats” now face a distinct possibility that Brexit will be settled by a plebiscite for the European Parliament.
“The European elections are a de facto 2nd referendum. If Leave supporting parties win a majority of seats, Brexit will go ahead. If Remain supporting parties win a majority… … Brexit is dead,” tweeted Diarmuid Scully, a Doctor of Political Science at the University of Limerick.

The European elections are a de facto 2nd referendum. If Leave supporting parties win a majority of seats, Brexit will go ahead. If Remain supporting parties - Lib Dem, SNP, ChUK, SDLP, SF - win a majority, Brexit is dead.
— Diarmuid Scully (@dscullylimerick) April 9, 2019

“One thing is fairly predictable, both the two major parties, the Conservatives and Labour will get clobbered,” said Quentin Peel, an associate fellow with the Europe Programme at the think tank Chatham House.
“That’s why they really don’t like this idea because they know they won’t do well.”
Few in Britain cared about the European Parliament elections in the past.
But concerns above all over immigration, and the notion the elections were more of a platform for protest than for policy led to the rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) returning the most seats in the last EP elections in 2014.

It was their success that drove then-Prime Minister David Cameron to call the EU referendum.
If the EP elections go ahead in the UK, the Conservative Party, already at breaking point over Brexit, is likely to take the hardest beating.
Britain starts issuing passports without ‘European Union’ on cover
Around third of Conservative MPs now want a hard crash out with no withdrawal agreement with Brussels, despite warnings from the civil service, the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England that it would lead to economic catastrophe.
Unlike the first past the post system for national elections, the European Parliament vote is carried out under proportional representation, giving more of a chance to smaller parties.

There are already two “Brexit” parties, UKIP founded by Nigel Farage, Brexit’s political shock jock, and currently also a member of the European Parliament he holds with such disdain.
But he has left the party after it embraced the anti-Islam far-right, and formed the Brexit Party. Farage told The Sunday Telegraph that he would be putting up a list of “household names” from all walks of life.
‘Sofa, so bad’: watch laid-back UK PM Theresa May speak to Britain from a comfy couch as her country sinks into Brexit oblivion
His party did not answer questions from South China Morning Post, asking who they were.
As the face and voice most associated with Brexit, Farage could soak up vast swathes of disaffected Tory voters.
“If we have to fight those European election on May 23, we’ll fight them because it’s time we taught them a lesson,” Farage says in a video campaign message.
EP elections could also punish the Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn who supports Brexit, albeit a “softer” version.

But the majority of Labour Party members and young supporters want to remain in the EU, even if that choice was not reflected at constituency level during the 2016 referendum.
Many have now joined the campaign for a second referendum.
The EP elections could help them in their quest, giving them a chance to show their disapproval of Corbyn’s EU stance by voting instead for one of the “Remain” parties, like the new party ChangeUK set up by pro-EU Labour and Conservative lawmakers, who left their respective parties last month in protest at their parties’ position over Brexit.
There is the pro-EU and pro-independence Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens who tend to do better in European elections than in national polls.




Then add to the mix an estimated 2.5 million EU citizens living in the UK who weren’t allowed to vote in the referendum, but who can vote in the EP elections.
There’s also the 1.2 million British citizens who live in other parts of Europe who were also excluded from the June 2016 vote, even though their lives have been most affected by the result.
If the “Remain” parties are able in the short time available to put up joint “remain” lists, then the political picture in the UK after the EP elections could look very different indeed.
And Brexit may after all, end up being cancelled.
There is another possible scenario in the sliding doors of contemporary UK politics, and the one probably most feared by the EU: that Conservative Party Brexiteers manage over the next few days to oust May from the leadership spot – opening the door to the Brexiteer former foreign secretary Boris Johnson.

Johnson was Brussels correspondent for The Daily Telegraph in the early 1990s, a paper for which he still writes for a hefty sum.
He created a school of EU reporting that created the Europhobia that led to Brexit.
“We cannot risk giving the keys of the EU’s future to a Boris Johnson, or a Michael Gove (another Brexit-supporting Conservative), the architects of the Brexit disaster,” tweeted Guy Verhofstadt, Brexit Coordinator for the European Parliament last week.
“A long extension would do exactly that.”

We cannot risk giving the keys of the EU’s future to a Boris Johnson, or a Michael Gove, the architects of this #Brexit disaster. A long extension would do exactly that. pic.twitter.com/TyFX2lepic
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) April 3, 2019

Fellow journalists with Johnson in Brussels sometimes mooted that his determination to ridicule the EU may have been due to filial rivalry with his father Stanley Johnson, who had been a senior European Commission official and a Conservative Member of the European Parliament.
Johnson the elder, a Remainer, who is also a well known TV personality in the UK, was one of the first to respond to May’s request for candidates for the May 23 EP elections.
Maybe the European Parliament elections will be his chance to settle family scores.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


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Brexit

Why a Brexit delay could come back to bite Europe

Veteran EU foe Nigel Farage – a poster boy of the pro-Brexit campaign. Photo: Reuters

British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss Brexit, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

Britain's MP Boris Johnson arrives at the Houses of Parliament, in London, Wednesday March 27, 2019. British lawmakers are preparing to vote Wednesday on alternatives for leaving the European Union as they seek to end an impasse following the overwhelming defeat of the deal negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May. (Dominic Lipinski/PA PA via AP)

A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows pro-Brexit Conservative MP Mark Francois raise a point of order with the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow in the House of Commons, in London on March 14, 2019, over the choice of ammendents chosen to be voted on later today. - British MPs will vote today on whether to ask the European Union for an extension to the March 29 Brexit deadline, with the whole process mired in chaos. (Photo by - / various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT " AFP PHOTO / PRU " - NO USE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, SATIRICAL, MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Former U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) leader and member of the European Parliament Nigel Farage at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Wednesday March 27, 2019. The Parliament discusses the conclusions of the 21-22 March EU summit, including Brexit, with European Council President Donald Tusk and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

An anti-Brexit campaigner wears a 'Remainer' hat near parliament, in London, Tuesday, April 9, 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May has brought her case for a further delay to Britain's departure from the European Union to Berlin, while German and French officials are insisting that any extension to the deadline must come with strings attached and assurances from London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Brexit supporters furious at their government’s failure to leave the EU on time are aiming to undermine the European Parliament following elections next month. File photo: AP

Comedy of errors: meet the cast of Britain’s Brexit tragedy

epa07080675 Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Dominic Raab leaves a Cabinet Meeting in 10 Downing Street, central London, Britain, 09 October 2018. EPA-EFE/WILL OLIVER

***PLEASE CLEAR THE COPYRIGHTS BEFORE REUSE*** Donald Trump meets with Nigel Farage in his office. Twitter

Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage, sits drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette as he speaks to members of the media outside a pub in Cliftonville, Margate, east of London, as he kicks off their "Say No To The EU" tour on September 7, 2015, during the party’s referendum campaign. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

British conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg (C), chair of the pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG), walks in the street outside the Houses of Parliament in London on March 12, 2019 with anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray (R) along side him. - Britain faces a moment of truth Tuesday when parliament votes on Prime Minister Theresa May's ill-loved Brexit plan -- a day after she said she secured last-minute changes to the deal from the EU. May huddled late Monday with EU leaders in Strasbourg in a bid to salvage the vision of Brexit she set out after coming to power nearly three years ago. The two sides then announced "legally binding changes" to the old agreement aimed at addressing Britain's needs and getting the deal through parliament. (Photo by Niklas HALLE'N / AFP)

epa07433595 A grab from a handout video made available by the UK Parliamentary Recording Unit shows British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn addressing the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Question Time in London, Britain, 13 March 2019. EPA-EFE/UK PARLIAMENTARY RECORDING UNIT / HANDOUT MANDATORY CREDIT: UK PARLIAMENTARY RECORDING UNIT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 12, 2018 Brexit campaign donor and businessman Arron Banks arrives at Portcullis House to give evidence to Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee in London. - Arron BanksThe Tories have seen thousands of new members apply to join its ranks this summer, according to lawmakers and reports. But its newfound popularity has not been welcomed by all within the centre-right bastion of British politics, as internal divisions over Brexit leave some fearing the new recruits have ulterior motives. (Photo by Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron arrives on centre court to watch US player Sam Querrey play France's Gael Monfils in their men's singles third round match on the fifth day of the 2018 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 6, 2018. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE

Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson speaks in Parliament in London, Britain, March 12, 2019, in this screen grab taken from video. Reuters TV via REUTERS

(Left to right) Former prime minister David Cameron and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson. Photos: AFP

Britain on path to 2020 Brexit as EU rejects Theresa May’s bid for short delay

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right) kisses British Prime Minister Theresa May as she leaves after they met to discuss Brexit, at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Emmanuel Macron, France's president, and Theresa May, U.K. prime minister, exit from Elysee Palace following a meeting in Paris, France, on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. May is visiting Berlin and Paris today as part of her efforts to win a short delay to Britain’s departure from the European Union, while at home some in her Conservative Party try to throw her overboard. Photographer: Christophe Morin/Bloomberg

epaselect epa07494235 A general view during the People's Vote rally in central London, Britain, 09 April 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May is in Paris and Berlin seeking an extension to article 50. EPA-EFE/ANDY RAIN

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EU leaders’ expected approval of a Brexit extension will put Britain in the paradoxical situation of having to take part in European Parliament elections on May 23
But some furious Brexit supporters are aiming to undermine the parliament after the elections


EU leaders’ expected approval of a Brexit extension will put Britain in the paradoxical situation of having to take part in European Parliament elections on May 23 - and Brexiteers are threatening to behave like a wrecking ball.


European Union